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The Sight/Chapter 8
Chapter description :Jaykit feels angry that one-eyed Brightheart is his mentor when there are so many other warriors to choose from. He refuses to step forward and greet his mentor and ignores her embarrassment, the encouraging murmurs of the other apprentices, and of Spiderleg quieting them. A muzzle gently but firmly pushes him forward, and Leafpool murmurs for him to go on. Jaykit grits his teeth and pads toward Brightheart and Firestar. The one-eyed she-cat sympathizes for him and promises to teach him to protect his Clan even without sight. Jaykit is angry at how she pities him, and angrily asks why she doesn't just send him to the elders den with Longtail if she thinks he’s so useless. Brightheart stiffens and snaps that no cat called him useless, and Longtail wouldn’t thank him for talking rudely of him. She reveals that she asked the elder to help with some of Jaykit’s training, and the gray tabby lashes his tail angrily. Firestar steps between the two cats and names Jaykit as Jaypaw. Mousepaw and Berrypaw start cheering and the other apprentices join in loudly, but Jaypaw thinks that they are only doing it because they feel sorry for him. Firestar tells Brightheart that she never let what happened to her prevent her from being a warrior, and says that he can’t think of anyone better to teach Jaypaw. Brightheart vows to share all she has learned with him. Jaypaw reluctantly touches muzzles with her, and the Clan raises their voices to cheer the new apprentices. Jaypaw thinks that they’re not cheering him, for no cat there would think he'd become a great warrior. When the calls die away, Firestar speaks that ThunderClan is lucky to have so many apprentices, and he hopes that they will train hard to serve their Clan well. Ashfur invites Lionpaw to find a nest in the apprentices' den, then show him the forest. Leafpool meows that she'll show Hollypaw the best places for herbs. Jaypaw's littermates follow their mentors and he feels cross that they get real mentors. :Brightheart meows to come with her. Jaypaw follows her to a clump of wilting grass, and Brightheart begins speaking, but the apprentice doesn’t listen. He hears Lionpaw eagerly hurrying after Ashfur into the forest, and Hollypaw tearing herbs in the medicine den, and he feels gratitude that at least he's not a medicine cat apprentice. He knows Daisy is circling her nest for a nap, and Mousefur is guiding Longtail back to the elder's den, though she is in a hunting mood, and Longtail's limbs are still young. Jaypaw thinks it’s unfair that the tom should live in the elder’s den despite not being old. Then he sense darkness over the camp, and hears claws scraping the ledge outside Firestar’s den, and he knows it is Brambleclaw. He senses suspicion in the deputy's mind, and realizes that his father is suspicious of his Clanmates. :Jaypaw blinks and his thoughts jerk back to Brightheart, who was waiting for him to say something. His mentor had guessed that he had not been listening, and reminds him that they are going to see Longtail. Jaypaw’s heart sinks, and unenthusiastically accepts. Brightheart leads him to the elder's den, and at the entrance, calls that it is Brightheart and Jaypaw. Longtail tells them to come in. :Brightheart ducks under the low branch entrance and pads inside. Her apprentice follows, for once uncertain about his surroundings, as he had not been in that den before. He knows by the scent that Longtail is alone, and Mousefur must have gone out into the forest after all. Longtail congratulates Jaypaw and purrs that he’s been given a great mentor. Brightheart thanks him, and Longtail remarks that Firestar gave her a challenge for her first apprentice. Jaypaw thinks it is because he is blind, but Longtail interrupts saying that Jaypaw has attitude. The apprentice is confused, and the elder responds that not many kits try to hunt foxes. Brightheart instructs her apprentice to clean out the moss and get rid of dirty pieces, and says that she’ll fetch fresh moss for now, as Jaypaw doesn't know where to go to collect it. Jaypaw had heard of cleaning out bedding from Berrypaw and Hazelpaw, but is angry that Lionpaw is already exploring the territory. Brightheart goes on, saying to then check Longtail and, if returned, Mousefur, for fleas, while Longtail could tell him about using senses other than sight. Jaypaw is frustrated, since although Longtail had lost sight after he had been a warrior, Jaypaw had always been blind, so sightlessness is totally natural for him. He thinks that he could give the elder more advice than Longtail could give him. :Brightheart suggests that Jaypaw starts, and he begins to sort through the moss as she leaves the den. Mousefur enters the den, smelling of the forest, and she breaths sharply as he sits down, saying that he missed a bit. Longtail defends the apprentice, but the brown she-cat asks if that means he'll be in the den till sunhigh. Jaypaw snaps that it’s not his fault that she's stiff after going into the forest when it was damp, and Mousefur asks how he knew that. Jaypaw replies that she had gasped when she sat down, almost as if hurt; and the old she-cat purrs that Brightheart will have her paws full. :Jaypaw feels a glimmer of hope that maybe they will stop underestimating him when they realize it doesn’t matter if he can't see. He finishes sorting through the moss, then pads over to Longtail and begins to nose through his fur. The tabby elder bets that Jaypaw can’t wait to start training in the forest, and he recalls his first time in the forest as if it was recent, even though he hadn’t been blinded at the time. Longtail goes on that scents became must sharper and more important when he became blind. He adds that his hearing is now much better, and recommends that Jaypaw listens really well all the time. Jaypaw finds a tick lodged behind the Longtail's ear. The elder continues that in hunting, it helps to have sharp hearing and smell. Jaypaw is angered that Longtail is telling him such obvious things, and pulls the tick harder than he needs to, which Longtail complains at. :Brightheart enters the den and asks if Jaypaw is finished. Jaypaw asks Mousefur if she has ticks, and the old she-cat replies that she has just one that she could reach herself. Jaypaw turns toward his mentor and replies that he’s finished, and his mentor meows that she will show him the territory around camp. Jaypaw is relieved, and Longtail wishes him luck. Brightheart leads him out of camp and up the steep slope that leads lakeward. She explains that the trail is steep, and Jaypaw decides not to tell her that he could already feel the slope as he follows his mentor. As the ground flattens out, Brightheart tells him that they’re at the top of the ridge. Jaypaw can tell by the slope that the forest falls away on either side, and soon begins to feels out of breath. Eventually, Brightheart meows that they’re out of the trees, though Jaypaw had already known that they had left the cover of the forest. Brightheart instructs him to stop, though her apprentice had already halted. :Scents flood through Jaypaw, and he knows that they are looking out over the forest and lake. Brightheart begins to explain the other Clans' territories, but breaks off when she tells him that he can looks where the sun rises. For the first time that day, Jaypaw feels sorry for her mentor, who would have wanted her first apprentice to be healthy without special allowances. He wishes that she knew he didn’t want allowances, and explains that even though he can't see, he knows a lot from hearing and smell. He describes how he knows where ShadowClan is by their strong stench and the tang of pines, and can smell the moorland because there is a great wind, and knows RiverClan lives over the lake, which he can’t smell because of the scents of the lake, which are stronger today because of the wind. Brightheart is surprised that he can tell all that without sight, but suddenly stiffens, and announces that a patrol is coming. Jaypaw had already heard it; and he knows from scent that it is Dustpelt, Hazelpaw, Thornclaw, and Poppypaw. Poppypaw bounds out of the bracken first, and Thornclaw, Dustpelt and Hazelpaw follow. Poppypaw notes that Jaypaw is out of the camp at last, and Hazelpaw adds how being an apprentice is great, and how excited she was her first day. Jaypaw thinks that her first day must have been more excited than his, and Hazelpaw goes on that they have just done a border patrol, with Poppypaw finishing that they would now to battle training. Poppypaw suggests that Jaypaw come with him, but Brightheart meows that another day might be better, explaining that they didn’t finish exploring the territory. Thornclaw asks where they will go now, and Brightheart answers that she will show Jaypaw the old Thunderpath. Thornclaw cautions them to be careful, but Jaypaw bristles, thinking that they’re not idiots even if they only have one eye between them. Brightheart sharply mews that they know a border marker when she smells it, and Dustpelt reminds Thornclaw that Firestar trusted Brightheart with Jaypaw. Thornclaw apologizes, but Brightheart replies with a stony silence. :When the patrol leaves, Brightheart warns that there’s a steep slope, though Jaypaw finds that to be very obvious. His mentor asks if he can manage, and he replies that he can, but the ground drops away much more steeply than he expects, and he skids down the muddy slope. Brightheart catches up with him and asks if he’s okay, and Jaypaw mews that he’s fine. The ginger-and-white she-cat offers to rest, but the apprentice hisses that he’s fine. They continue toward the old Thunderpath, and the wind picks up by the time they reach it. Brightheart tells him that they will head back to camp from there. Jaypaw objects that there must be more ThunderClan territory than that, but the warrior meows that it’s too much to explore today. Jaypaw is angry that they couldn’t circle the whole territory in just one day. :They pad through the trees, and rain begins to fall. Jaypaw realizes that it might not be that bad that they’re going back to the hollow, when he stiffens at a sharp scent on the breeze. He knows it is a fox, the same that had chased him over the edge of the hollow. Jaypaw is about to warn Brightheart, but her fear-scent tells him that she already knows. She hisses that they must find Thornclaw’s patrol, and relieved picks up a faint smell of Thornclaw. However, it’s too late, for the bracken up ahead rustles and the fox hurls itself out and charges toward them. Jaypaw is very scared, and can tell that the fox had grown since their last encounter. Brightheart orders him to run, but Jaypaw yowls that he won’t leave her. He hears the fox swipe at his mentor, and she hisses. The fox’s screech tells Jaypaw that she clawed it. The fox darts past him. He twists, claws unsheathed, preparing to lunge, and leaps, but something tugs him back: his tail is caught in a bramble bush. He collapses on the ground, and a heavy paw lands on his back; the fox hand ran straight over him, heading for Brightheart. The warrior screeches, then Thronclaw’s yowl is heard a rabbit-length away. The patrol had come. :Warriors and apprentices stream into the clearing, and the fox yelps and races into the trees, with Dustpelt and Hazelpaw pounding after it. Jaypaw struggles to his paws, yanking his tail to unsnag it from the bush. Poppypaw is at his side and asks if he’s alright. The gray tom wrenches his tail free and snaps that he’s fine. Brightheart asks if the fox hurt him. Jaypaw is relieved that his mentor’s voice is strong and he smells no blood on her. Thornclaw demands to know if he tried to fight the fox. The apprentice objects that he couldn’t leave Brightheart alone, and Thornclaw growls that Jaypaw should have learned that he’s no match for a fox. Poppypaw asks if his tail is okay. Jaypaw mutters that it’s fine, even though he is in pain from the thorns still stuck in it. He feels very embarrassed at being defeated by a bramble bush, and asks if Dustpelt and Hazelpaw will be okay. Thornclaw replies that they’ll chase the fox away from camp, and Poppypaw suggests to take Brightheart and Jaypaw back to camp, which the older warrior agrees to. :Jaypaw lay pressed in the same clump of grass Brightheart had taken him that morning, and wants to be alone. But when Lionpaw and Ashfur returns, he can hear them in the center of the clearing. His brother asks where Jaypaw is, and Hollypaw answers from outside the medicine cat’s den that she hasn’t seen him, but must be in camp as Brightheart is back. Jaypaw doesn’t want Brightheart to tell them how he made a fool of himself, and slips out, and heads past his siblings toward the fresh-kill pile. Hollypaw greets him as he gets a mouse from the top, and she follows at picks up a sparrow. Lionpaw roots among the prey, till he finds a vole and boasts that he caught it himself. Hollypaw is impressed that he caught prey on his first day, and Lionpaw admits that Ashfur helped him. Jaypaw growls that Ashfur probably held it down for Lionpaw to finish off. After a moment’s silence, Hollypaw brushes her tail over Jaypaw's pelt, and mews that she heard he ran into trouble, but that could have happened to any cat. Jaypaw growls that it happened to him, but Lionpaw reminds him it was his first day. Jaypaw angrily thinks that his littermate caught a vole on his first day. Hollypaw plucks a thorn out of Jaypaw’s tail, but he hisses that he can do it himself. She offers herbs, but Jaypaw rejects her help, and when he bites the mouse it feels tasteless. He gives it to his brother to finish, and before Lionpaw can ask, Jaypaw gloomily pads to the apprentices den. :The unfamiliar scents confuse Jaypaw, and he doesn't know where to sleep. Hazelpaw’s mew comes from the far side of the den, informing him that there’s no one in the den but her. She adds that there’s clean moss next to her nest, where he can sleep. Jaypaw is too tired to fuss about being helped, and he pads toward Hazelpaw’s nest. The gray tabby smells Poppypaw, Berrypaw and Honeypaw's nest, and weaves among the other begs till he finds the clean moss beside Hazelpaw. The new apprentice thanks his denmate, and she sleepily answers that it is no problem. Jaypaw is glad that she sounds tired, as all he wants to do is sleep. Characters Major *Brightheart }} Minor *Leafpool *Firestar *Mousepaw *Berrypaw *Lionpaw *Hollypaw *Ashfur *Daisy *Longtail *Mousefur *Brambleclaw *Dustpelt *Hazelpaw *Thornclaw *Poppypaw }} Mentioned }} Notes and references Category:The Sight Category:Chapter subpages Category:Power of Three arc